[Interview] Ore no imouto game sequel: with Fushimi Tsukasa (the author)

This is a partial translation of the interview article posted on Dengeki Online (or here) on the 24th of November titled, “In Orenoimo P sequel how will each of the heroine’s routes work? We ask Fushimi Tsukasa (the author of oreimo) in a 3P discussion.” The same article can also be found on Dengeki Playstation Vol. 507.

Ore no imouto ga konna ni kawaii wake ga nai Portable ga tsuzuku wake ga nai 「俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない ポータブルが続くわけがない」…literally, ‘There is no way there is a sequel to the portable game of Oreimo’.

Of course being a big fan of the series & the LN and the fact that this second game is instant buy for me… I couldn’t let this one slip up. So here goes.

At the discussion table there is Fushimi Tsukasa (the author), 二見鷹介 or Futami  (the producer for the game) and 三木一馬 or Miki (who is Dengeki vice editor-in-chief).

Question 1. How did you decide on creating a sequel to this game? Skipped. (Too formal)

Question 2. How is the second game different from the first?
Miki: Well in the first game, Ayase route and Kanako route were both written by Fushimi-san.
Fushimi: Well in this game I wrote plenty of it too.
Miki: Yes it’s true… there weren’t very many Media Mix authors who were very keen on helping out…
Futami: To speed our readers up, here is a summary of all the pieces of information that have been revealed in previous updates.

• Heroines: Kirino, Kuroneko (Yamineko), Manami, Saori, Ayase, Kanako, Sena.
• Fushimi wrote these himself:  Kirino (sister-in-law route), Kanako route, Saori route, Yamineko route (short story), hidden route (short story), Ayase route (Only Epilogue) and the common route.
• On the get-go: Each of the routes begin with Kyosuke date the girl for the first time.
• Unlike the previous game: Both Kirino and Saori will sport a proper ending.
• What-if scenario: What if Kirino and Kyosuke weren’t actually blood-related sisters? That’s the sister-in-law route.
• Yamineko route: Takes the branch of the story at the end of Ayase route (end of summer comiket) where if Ayase did not actually confess to Kyosuke. What would happen.
• Sena route: Branches off from the LNs.
• Kirino and Sena: already knew each other but Kyosuke had not known this.
• Finally: The concept for this game is ‘Yep. It’s going to continue from this point where you’d expect it to end. Yep, it’s really going to continue.‘

Fushimi: well the truth is, I really really wanted to write the entire game but the director would not let me. I was asked to look over what the other authors had written and that was as hard as me writing it myself…
Futami: I see
Fushimi: but as you would imagine, the two people assigned to our writing team are the same two guys from the last game so now with their solid understanding of the story there was far less hiccup.
Fushimi: they told me, you can’t write all of it Fushimi we don’t have the time and I was told to choose between Kanako route, other routes, Kirino route or Saori route… I said, please let me do Kirino (laughs).
Miki: It’s great you had such initiative on the project.
Fushimi: well in the end I wrote Saori route anyway.
Fushimi: yes and also the hidden route which is locked and can only be played on your second way through the game.

Question 3. why was it that you wrote Ayase’s epilogue only but not her route?
Fushimi: well because this project had been structured in quite a special way, there were segments that I wanted to write more than others so I took that opportunity. I ended up writing Kirino, Yamineko, Ayase and Saori’s epilogue. If possible I would like to have written Minami’s epilogue as well.

Question 4. can you please tell me a bit about each of the heroine’s routes. Let’s start with Kirino.
Fushimi: In the last game Kirino’s route had come to an ending. So instead, we ran with an IF situation. And considering Kirino in the first game had such a short route, we made sure this time to give her a more appropriate length of story.
Futami: honestly Kirino is so cute now I find it hard to hold back…
Miki: and the non-blood related part was a personal desire?
Futami: ah yes. Writing Kirino as a sister-in-law felt like… I was wielding a weapon that could one-hit kill the last boss in a game right from the get-go… it was so satisfying. I hope the reader might share that feeling with me too.

Question 5. what about Kuroneko?
Fushimi: yes, the reason why we split it into two routes (normal kuroneko route and a yamineko route) is that, if I had to read over my own work (in the LN), it would make me want to rewrite the entirety of Kuroneko’s development with Kyosuke.
Miki: I see (laughs)
Fushimi: Yamineko is strictly a kuroneko who has fallen a bit to the dark side so comedy ensures and there is an epilogue for that route too. As for normal Kuroneko, she is the usual lovey-dovey girl you would know so look forward to that.

Question 6. tell us about Minami route. skipped (not interested)

Question 7. what about Saori? skipped (not interested)

Question 8. what will likely happen in Ayase route?
Fushimi: All I can say is, we wrote her in a way that we couldn’t write her in the last game. This route was left to Futami-san to take care of. Do ‘pay attention’ to the epilogue too.
Miki:  when you meant ‘pay attention’, you mean prepare yourself for a bloody bad end where a love-sim game turns into some crazy horror genre? (laughs)
Futami: the Ayase route that Fushimi wrote was brilliant already so I had a hard time trying to trying to reach his level (laughs). Actually there is a cute kind of dead end relationship that they end up in, I think the reader will enjoy it a lot.

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Question 9. can you speak a little about Kanako route?  skipped (not interested)

Question 10. what about Sena route? skipped (not interested)

Question 11. alright then, to wrap it up – please tell us your favourite parts of the game.
Fushimi: everything that I wrote is great! Especially sister-in-law Kirino and Minami.
Miki: Minami for me…
Futami: for me it would be Ayase. During the date Ayase turns into Ayase-tan!!! She’s super cute. And the fact that what she says and what she does is so inconsistent, if you ever read it I don’t think you could ever remove the smile off your face.

Arigatou-gozaimashita!